Life's Full of Surprises
by DancingThroughStars
Summary: People think that I hate James Potter. Don't get me wrong, there are times that all I want to do is ring that boy's neck and slap him all over his face, but other times, other times he surprises me. He's this boy, who has known exactly which one of my buttons to push to set me off, from the moment we met, and also the one who knows exactly what to do to make me smile.
1. Everything Starts Somewhere

**Ch: 1**

**Everything Starts Somewhere**

* * *

**1st September 1976**

People think that I hate James Potter.  
Don't get me wrong, there are times that all I want to do is ring that boy's neck and slap him all over his face, but other times, other times he surprises me.  
We have a rocky relationship.  
Just please never reveal to him that I used the word relationship.

He's this boy, who has known exactly which one of my buttons to push to set me off, from the moment we met, and also the one who knows exactly what to do to make me smile.

After the events that transpired after O.W.L.s at the end of 5th year, my friendship with Sev had come to an end. He was my best friend, well, he had been my best friend. I had never imagined my life without him. Just always assume that he would be a constant.  
Though this trait is bad, I do have it. I can cut people out of my life.  
My mum use to tell me that doing that, shutting people out would cause my heart to harden. She always saw the best in people; and I swear that even on her bad days, she could have put Disney Princesses to shame. This was different however.  
I had fought for him, saw the best in him, rooted for him, loved him, and he turned around and…I don't need that in my life. The whole wizarding world was pulsating, tensions flaring, and I would not have that sort of negativity or thought around me.

It was those events that really lead to this past summer, summer of my 6th year, being a turning point for my feelings on James Potter. Again, don't get me wrong, when we weren't fighting, we got on grand. I got on well with his lot as well.  
Sirius and I play wizard's chest most Tuesday evenings. It's just something that we've always done. Sometime people watch us, other times the boys come and try to offer advice (though Potter is wretched at the game), and other times it's us in the common room, shooting well-meaning insults at each other. Potter tends to always be nearby. I swear those two cannot stand to be parted from one another.  
Remus was my fellow Prefect. We spent a fair deal of time together, with duties and whatnot. But he was also a good guy to know, he was easy to talk to, and never seemed to judge with whatever issues might arise. He had my trust. I'm not sure if he knew how much trust I had in him. I'd never say anything he told me, or anything I had concluded about him.  
Sev had for years told me something I had already figured out, though I'd never confirm, and tried my hardest to dissuade his interest in the matter. He'd always been nosey about what Potter's lot was doing, something that tended to rub me the wrong way, and something that would be nice not to have to worry about in the upcoming year.  
Remus was Remus, he was a good friend. Nothing would shift that opinion of him for me.  
Then there was Peter, the one that never seemed like he fit in, but tried so hard to gain everyone's approval. We'd never been close, but that didn't stop me from talking to him when the chance presented itself, or aiding him in homework here and there. Most the time the boys helped him out, he was like a younger brother to them, someone who they felt they needed to look after and defend.

So, over the summer, it was the norm for me to receive the odd letter from the lads, it was just what they did. Sirius would send lighthearted tales of misadventures, Remus would touch base and write more detailed letters, Peter would send a 'hope all is well' one, and Potter, well he'd send letters that were always a mix of the other three.  
Most of the time, I'd respond to each of them with how my interactions were with them during the school year. Potter and I would argue in the letters. He'd flirt, I'd come back with a cutting remark, he'd be thoughtful and sincere, and I'd respond in kind.  
Before that summer, I'd only received a handful of letters from each of them, Potter included, but this past summer, the lot of them kicked it up a notch, and Potter kicked it up about ten notches.  
I swear the day after I sent his owl back, she'd be back with a new letter. I may or may not have feign being annoyed by the constant attention, but with the tone of the letters, it was clear he was more concerned with my wellbeing than anything else; didn't stop him from being a prat at times, but overall it was nice having a constant connection to the world I left behind for the summer months.  
He and Sirius even stopped by a couple of times, on Tuesdays, with wizard chess. I'd grumble about their unannounced visits and allow my competitive attitude to come out in full, plus more of my snarky at home attitude. My father was always keen on having my friends over, especially after mum and when he realized that Sev would no longer be coming around, he worried about me.

I did get questioned about the boys after their first visit and they got interrogated by him while they were in the house, but he liked their energy in the house. They made me smile and all he wanted was for me to be happy.

Mary Macdonald also became a closer friend over the end of 5th year and into that summer.  
It was nice having girlfriends. It was nice that after exchanging farewells with my father and a surly Petunia (who wished nothing more than to be with her boyfriend, and not at the King's Cross early on a September morning), to go through the brick wall and be greeted with hugs. It was nice to come back to friends.

"Ah teel ye, ahm gonnae stab Sirius if he makes a one more bludy comment abit mah hair!" Mary was speaking in a loud voice, the Scottish brogue she was known for coming out thicker with her volume, making sure her voice carried. Her wild curly hair was thick as could be, and a vibrant strawberry blonde color, with the orange and blonde hues glimmering in the sun; "Hush, Mary, you know your hair is that of dreams." We pushed our trolley's forward, before two lads appeared on either side of us. I greeted Remus with a quick hug as Sirius gave a nod and large smile as he turned his attention to Mary.

"You're a bonnie lass, and I do love when you come back over break with that thick accent of yours." Sticking her tongue out at him, "Weel, if ahm sae bonnie, 'en ye'll be pushin' thes trolley fur me." Laying it on extra thick with a flirty smile, Mary looped her arm with mine, leaving Sirius and Remus to push.

"Is that a wise idea? Leaving them with everything?" Mary gave me a dismissive hand wave, "It's whit Ah dae every year. Ah make some sort of lood comment, th' loon hearin' their nam cannae fight th' urge tae come ower, 'en Ah dornt hae tae push anymair."  
"You should have been in Ravenclaw with that brain of yours." She scrunched her nose at me, smiling brightly, laughter on her lips. There was something about her.  
She was bright, everything about her glowed.  
She was this endless ray of sunshine.

Yelling orders to the boys with a large smile, her attention was taken by Remus and Sirius grumbling something back at her. With a light roll of her light eyes, she released my arm and dropped back to them, bickering with Remus with distinct lightness in her voice.

"She's roped them into carrying her stuff again?" Well that came closer than expected, "She gets them every year?" turning my head, I smiled up at the boy who had taken Mary's spot.  
"Sirius has knight-in-shining-armor syndrome. He always ends up helping her out. And Remus is just a good mate…" he trailed off, "Had a good summer?"

"Ah, you know. Decent. Had this bloke writing to me nonstop and drop by without an invitation on a few occasions."  
"Sounds like a real git." I could feel his smile. That's one thing about James Potter, you could feel everything about him; he radiated that type of energy. There was never any need to guess how he was feeling. He was an open book.  
"You have no idea." He gave me a laugh, his hand flying to his hair to ruffle it. James Potter was an attractive human being.  
He knew it. With his height and strong angular bone structure.  
But he wasn't at Sirius Black level, which caused girls to get whiplash as he passed. No, James Potter was attractive in, the longer you stared at him, the more you noticed how attractive he was.  
I tried to stare at him as little as possible.

"So, Evans?"  
Quirking an eyebrow up at him, I ran my tongue over my teeth, a clear indicator not to mess with me. This made him grin wider.  
He knew my tells.  
"Want to cozy up and share a compartment with me and my mates?" Pursing my lips together I looked him over before flicking my sight back to Mary, who was talking animatedly with her hands, gesturing to the train.

"Oy! Mar!"  
"Whit dae ye want?"  
"Potter wants us to join his compartment."  
"'en have hem teel his mates where tae put our stuff, they are bein' difficult." Sirius made a noise of contention, which caused Potter to laugh.

"Back to our compartment lads!" James smiled, his hazel eyes gleaming, he offered me his hand, to which I shoved him forward.

"Evans, this has been the longest we've gone without you threatening to hex me!" Turning my attention from Peter, who I was having a rather dull conversation with, I kicked him in the shins.  
Hard enough to merit a gruff noise from him, which caused me to have a sweet smile, "Potter, don't you know not to ruin a good thing by opening your mouth?"

"Obviously not!" Sirius howled, punching Potter lightly in the arm who in turn looked slightly sheepish as the castle came into sight.

This was the start to my 6th year of Hogwarts.  
In a compartment with the four fun loving gits of Hogwarts and a sunny Scot.

* * *

**AN: I've read so many stories were Lily hates James, but I think that they probably bickered a whole lot, yet they did get on at times. So, hopefully I can capture what I have in my brain.  
Maybe you'll like it...yeah?**

**Also, Mary's accent will get toned down, but if she's been gone with her family all summer, it would be there very thick and full.  
I know it's rough, I'll make it pretty later.**


	2. Wizard Chess and Bruises

**Ch. 2**

**Wizard Chess and Bruises**

* * *

**30th September 1976**

There's something to be said about 6th year.  
It's this odd year between the one where you are stressing about what you want to do for the rest of your life and your final year at the castle.  
It's the limbo of the years at Hogwarts.

"Lilykins, come play with me," Sirius whined as Lily poured over her charms essay, "Black, we all know you play with yourself loads, you don't need my help in the matter."  
Calm cool and collected. She glanced up over her essay to see the falsified hurt expression on his face, and hear the snickering of Mary sitting next to her, "Why don't you get your boy-toy to come play with you? He tends to be your shadow." Glancing around the room, Lily realized it was surprisingly James Potter free. And if she was being fully honest with herself, she knew without looking up that he wasn't in the room. It was odd, he normally spent this time of day in the arm chair by Sirius throwing out unnecessary commentary and testing her patience.

The other night, they had gotten into a war of words.  
Well, he made a comment, and she took it a tad personally.  
Then all hell broke loose.

He may have decided it was better to not stir the pot anymore, even though he normally wasn't so thoughtful.

"Aye. Where is 'at loon? He's normally in th' room pesterin' puir Lily. He diz loch tae git 'er riled up. Has a death wish Ah teel ye." Watching Potter and Lily have words was Mary's favorite show' if she could, she'd have popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show. She had given up on the book she'd been taking notes of, everything was left abandoned as she bounded over to Sirius, perching her slight frame on the edge of his chair.

"Oy, woman! Personal space," Mary just tutted at him, then pressed on, "Where's James at? We aw ken ye ken. Might as well reveal it noo, ye dornt want me tae hae tae sick Lily oan ye."

"James would get jealous if I got some of the Lily action," Sirius looked pensive for a moment while Lily nearly snorted at his words, though there was a tinge of truth to them, which she didn't care to acknowledge. His eyes shifted from Mary to Lily, who busied herself with adding the final flare to the parchment she was pouring over, before smiling up at them.

"I'll play chess with you now Sirius." The moment the words escaped her lips, he perked on up, with Mary looking betrayed somewhat, "but only if you tell us where dear Mr. Potter is."

"He'll be pleased to know you're keen on knowing his whereabouts." That he would. Lily rolled her eyes, Potter had this act where he liked to ask her out in these grandiose sort of ways, to which she would reply with some sort of acid comment; this had only occurred a few times during their last year, and it was right annoying. This year he flirted more than anything. But this was James Potter, this was to be expected. The words, "Evans go out with me," hadn't left his lips at all since the incident after their OWLS.  
But if she was being really honest with herself, she had, on the odd occasion, wondered what would have happened if she had agreed to a date with him. Just to see his face as she accepted the offer he'd expect her to refuse, and then have to make good on taking her out. The awkwardness would have been spectacular.

"Spill Black." Mary's voice broke Lily from her thoughts, her focus back on the boy in front of her. Sirius Black was, in fact, literally his name; he was this bright star in the sea of darkness. No matter what was going on, that boy had a smile on his face.  
It was a gift. Something that Hogwarts needed as times got darker and heavier. They all needed a boy like Sirius Black, who could bring smiles to people, and not lose his own. Even though Lily was known as being an optimist, she did have major respect for Sirius, for all that he went through, for all his family drama, to be the boy who could always smile.

"He's helping Peter with Homework." Now that lie caused Mary to hit him lightly from behind his head, and Lily to raise her eyebrows at him.

"You mean the Peter that Remus is helping out…right behind you?" Lily's tone really was sickening sweet.

"Yes." His eyes went shifty. This boy who was able to lie like nobody to the professors and girls who he was trying to dodge, was never really able to lie to Lily. It was sweet. It was a trait they all seemed to have. The four pranksters of Hogwarts, had issues lying to little ole Lily Evans.

"Going to stick with that answer?" He looked incredibly uncomfortable, and even more so when he looked over at Mary. She was an intimidating tiny thing.  
To Lily, she was the embodiment of a fairie from the stories her mum had told her as a child; with her wild light hair, mischievous glint in her eyes, graceful movements, her frame was slight and she seemed to have stopped growing in height during 2nd year. There was something about Mary that caused people to want to get to know her more but at the same time be very intimidated with her on a whole.

"No?" Sirius was looking at Lily to come save him from the wee Scottish lass, who looked like a predator about to pounce on its prey.

"Yoo're bein' a bludy pain."

"He's always a pain, why is now any different?" Potter was standing next to the chair that Lily occupied. It was like he just appeared there, like he'd been there the entire time and they hadn't realized it. Only there was no way to not realize that James Potter was in the room, he was that person that people would always notice, not to mention Lily had distinctly remembered his lack of presence in the room moments before.

"Lily wanted to know where you were."  
If looks could kill.  
Sirius Black would have been a dead man.

"Sirius wanted ye tae play wi' heem, coz Lily was busy wi' 'er studies." Mary began as an explanation, to which Lily quickly jumped on, "And I had suggested he play with you, seeing as I was busy."

"'en we realized ye werenae aroond."

"So, we decided to pester him."

"He lied abit whaur ye waur."

"Now you're here," standing very close to Lily's personal bubble, but that was neither here nor there.

"Figured ye waur tryin' tae avoid Lily efter th' wee tift ye aw has lest night." Mary had left her perch on the arm chair, and was now standing on tip toe, trying to gain height, while lightly tapping James' on the chest. Sometimes she didn't know when to not speak, it was like her mouth just ran on its own, which caused Lily to flush roll her eyes.  
Mary's fairie like form brought the attention to James' new height whish he seemed to have found during their first month back; tall and lanky with those sharp angular features that always caught the firelight.

"Yeah," his hair jumped to his hair, "well, Evans and I argue, it's our thing. It's the way she flirts with me." He gave her a cheeky smile and threw in a wink for good measure.

Lily allowed a pregnant pause to settle, as she idly looked over her essay before replying in a flippant tone, "Aw, Potter, I don't think you know the proper definition of flirting."

"You could always give me a one on one tutoring session to set me straight." She could feel his eyes locked on her, the warmth in his voice caused her to sigh before turning a bored stare up to his tall form.

"I could, I could also try dancing with the giant squid, but I don't." He gave Lily a bright smile.

"Alright. Now that that is done. Who's going to play chess with me?" Sirius clapped his hands and looked between the three of them with the wide eyes of a puppy.

"Promise not to cry once I beat you?" Lily had settled herself in the chair opposite him, with James and Mary, taking their usual seats for the evening.

"That happened only once, and you'll never let me live it down! How many times do I have to tell you, James hexed me! I wasn't crying because you beat me." Grumbling out the last statement to the snickering of James, Lily made her first move on the board.

Xxx

A game and a half later, their group had been joined by Remus and Peter, with everyone choosing a side to encourage. James and Peter had opted to put their faith in Sirius, while Remus and Mary were backing Lily.  
It was these simple times that seem to be moments that time always forgot. Big moments are always remembered. Small moments; moments like the one happening in the Gryffindor common room, are the ones that no one speaks of years later in detail.  
They seem so unimportant and yet they can be the most important memories of them all.

Peter held a mug out for Sirius, giving him words of encouragement, while James alternated between trying to bring Lily's attention to himself and giving Sirius unhelpful advise.  
"I swear James. Do you not know how to think three moves ahead?" Sirius grumbled at him as he gave another unhelpful tip, "And people say I'm impulsive."

"I go on gut feeling."

"Which is fabulous in a duel, but not so much during a game of chess," Lily's light voice, broke through the boys bickering, James smirked over at her.

"You think I'm fabulous at dueling."

"You're adequate, though I'd place my bet on Remus or Mary any day of the week." There was a slight teasing note, that she tried to hide, and before James had time to speak, Sirius made a noise of outrage, Remus blushed lightly, and Mary sat there with a smug expression.  
"Come on. Remus is calm and cool under pressure, he excels in his classes, and his wand movements are bloody brilliant. Don't get me wrong." Sirius attention had been pulled away from the board, "Black, you are fantastic and it's clear you and Potter have been doing magic and been around wands your entire life. But you tend to go too far and take things personally, which can cause you to be sloppy, the same can be said for poor Mr. Potter. Though you both work on instinct, I could say a few choice words, and your attention would be pulled." Almost as if she had planned it, she sent her knight forward, taking Sirius' bishop, before continuing in her melody of words.

"Mary, is similar to Remus, though she is a fireball and her attention always seems spilt, she becomes intently focus on her goal. Words don't phase her. She is one with the wand. It's a natural spot for her, she doesn't over think nor does she take anything someone says to heart, there are no distractions to her." Mary puffed up in pride, "Aam also wee lass, sae folk under estimate me."

"And the fact you're hard to understand helps" Sirius muttered under his breath, which caused Mary to turn her light eyes on him.

"Be careful what you say Black." With Mary and Black looking ready to go toe to toe to see was in fact the better dueler, Lily pressed on, with James watching her with an expression of examination.

"Then there is Peter and myself," she smiled kindly at Peter, who was trying to talk Sirius out of making a wrongly calibrate move, but perked up when he heard his name, "I tend to go with words first, as does Peter, it's not that either of us are opposed to using our wands, but we always tend to go for words first. Plus if you lot," She pursued her lips together and gestured at the two dark haired wizards, "are anywhere near by, you seem to jump into hero mode, which is right annoying. Always so arrogant."

Sirius had made the move that Peter had tried to talk him out of, to which Lily smiled widely, before moving her Queen, "And that, good sir, is checkmate."

There was a wicked gleam in her eye, while Sirius spluttered at the board. James let a wide smile spread over his face, he had caught on to what she was doing.  
She used words as she had said that's how she won duels.  
Words were mightier than the wand in her opinion.  
She had gotten them all so caught up with what she was saying that Sirius had lost focus on the game before him, and with that, James was very impressed with how well she knew how to play them.

"You're a witch Lily, a real witch." Sirius grumbled, with his arms cross.

"I've been called worse." She stuck her tongue out at him before flourishing her wand to clean up their game. Mary was gathering together all of the girls' items as the boys seemed to be trying to have a private conversation without the use of words.

"Headed to bed Evans?" James Potter was dangerously close to her again, he really didn't grasp the whole notion of personal bubble.

"I've had my share of testosterone this evening." She was civil, which is what she'd always been with James, he annoyed her most times and caused her hair to stand on end, but she tried to be polite most of the time.

"Can't handle all this manliness?" His hand found his hair in the annoying manner to rumple his already windblown hair, Lily let a sweet smile grace her lips causing him to shift his weight from foot to foot.

"You mean that musk smell that you drench yourself in? Let me give you a helpful tip there, Potter, it's not a good thing to be able to smell you before we see you, though it does give me time to find a hiding spot." Patting his chest lightly, both his hands went idly behind his head and he seemed to stop breathing for a moment.

Lily's eyes widened, noticing the fresh bruising on his wrist under his jumper; his eyes followed before quickly dropping his arms back down, and tugging the sleeves to cover.  
"Potter…" He gave her a charming smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes, "Evans I do love it how you say my na…"

"No, no trying to change the subject. Potter, what happened?" She made to push up the arm of his jumper, his years of reflexes caught her slight hand in his rough one.

"Evans, it's sweet that you care. But please don't press the matter." His cheeks held a pink tint and hands were exceedingly warm, "Don't press your luck, but I can help you know. Seeing as my career path is a healer…" She let her words trail off.

"I've had worse. You should see the other guy." His smug smile was back in play.

"You're an arrogant arse Potter!" She made to move away but he still held her hand, "Let go."

"Oy, I was joking. Keep your knickers on Evans."

"This is why people think we don't get along, because you feel the need to be a prat and I feel the need to call you out on it." James still held firm to her hand. He didn't want to explain the circumstances to how he got the bruising, saying that he jumped to the aid of a young Hufflepuff wasn't something he wanted to brag about to Lily, and she would take it as him bragging.

"Still willing to help a prat?" Lily glared up at him, letting out an angry breath, before choosing her words.

"I have something to help, it's up in my dorm…either we do it down here or if it's more severe I'd recommend we do it in your dorm, for at least a tad bit more privacy." Chewing the inside of her cheek she kept her eyes locked on his as he clearly weighed his options.

"Can we meet my dorm at half past? I can get the lads out, no use in getting them worked up."

"Plus it gives you time to clean up the room." Grinning at her, Lily felt the tension fade and couldn't help but give him back a small smile.

"You know me too well Evans." James broke eye contact first looking around and noticing for the first time of their group's disappearance. His mates where known to always butt in at the wrong time, and he was surprised to have this long alone with Lily, without the boys popping in or Mary dragging Lily away, but right now they were standing together, with him still holding her hand.

"Don't remind me." Giving a deadpan response, Lily pulled away heading up to her dorm, "half past, Potter."

Watching her walk away James ran his thumb over the place on his palm where her hand had been. She was fire to him.  
There was something about Lily Evans that he was head over heels for, though she clearly did not view him in the same light, he couldn't help but be entranced by her.  
She was this firecracker, witty, smart, and never backed down from a challenge, yet she was sweet and caring and willing to help anybody who needed it. She was willing to go against the status quo, wanted to make her own mind up on people, though she always seemed torn on him.  
It killed him.  
She'd been best friends with Snape for years, and yet they couldn't hold a conversation for more than ten minutes without her getting annoyed.

Still, in a group setting they got along well, which gave him hope. He wanted to be the person who she could come to after a stressful day and just talk, be the person she shared things with, be someone who she counted as family, that's what he wanted.

XxX

Lily came breezing into the room like it was something she did every day, her curtain of auburn waves fanning out behind her as she moved with a sense of authority. She had he bag of potions and ointments which she had been steadily putting together.  
In today's times she felt that is was best to be prepared and seeing as a gang of fool hearty boys who had a knack of coming back with injuries, even though they had spent years trying to patch themselves up, Lily figured her aid would probably be beneficial to all.

"Alright Potter, let's see what I'm working with." There was a large pile of clothing in his arms that he appeared to be wanting to shove in a trunk, he smiled sheepishly up at her before dropping the clothing.

"Ready to get down to business I see." That smile of his where he gave a light chuckle, caused Lily to smile, "I am. Show me how bad. I think I should have enough, though I should make another batch of the paste" Talking more to herself that to him, she rummaged through her bag which she had propped up on his bed.

"Merlin Evans, I've never been so pleased with your potion skills."

"Wait till you actually see it work, then you'll get why Slughorn rants and raves about me."

"My my, look who is just as cocky as, well, me." Giving him a smile that caused his heart rate to quicken, Lily gave a small nod, "Hush. Do you want my help or not?"

Pulling off the light jumper he wore, he adverted Lily's gaze, though he could feel her eyes taking him in. She saw all the scars that he had collected over the years and the new marks from earlier that evening, he felt very exposed, and bit his tongue from making a remark that was sure to get on her bad side. There was a faint touch on his hand. And his eyes met deep green ones.

"Someone's been…accident prone?"

"Let's go with that." He gave a smile as she ran a hand him, examining, all her movements were that of someone who this came naturally, "Some of these are fairly deep." Holding back a wince as she trailed her fingers lightly over his bare shoulder.  
This was sheer torture for him.

"I'm going to rub in some of this lovely ointment, which I'm sure you're use to by now," James noticed as she took out a container filled with a thick yellow paste, "It's going to be cold, and for the few that seem slightly deeper, I'm just going to use a simple charm to aid in the relief."

Lily made quick work, with caution not to cause him anymore displeasure.  
"Are you going to actually tell me what happened?" Unease was not in Lily's vocabulary, though at this moment she felt very self-conscious and unsure of what she should do; rubbing in a bruise ointment onto a shirtless James Potter, who had way too many scar for someone his age.

"It's nothing Evans." She pushed down harder than she should have and he let out a hiss of pain. "Watch it! You're bloody spiteful."

"You're covered in scars and bruises!" There was a long pause, "It would just be nice for you to trust me Potter." Her voice was tiny but firm, and it broke his heart.

"The long scar on my right shoulder was from the Quidditch match last year, the first one against Ravenclaw, where Carroll hit the bludger at me, and that resulted in…"

"I know the story, I was there." There was a hint of a smile, James had continued to play on through the game and everyone knew how big of a Quidditch nut Lily was. It was horrific to watch, but very impressive. Spinnett couldn't get the snitch soon enough, they had just barely won the game, and when James took off his robe, the damage that the bludger did was evident.

"The one on my elbow was from falling off my broom when I was kid, the small one above my eye was from Sirius punched me in 3rd year, a few are from other scuffles around the campus. Ah, the one on the back of my hand is from you." Lily tried to fight the heat rising in her cheeks.

"You came up behind me in the kitchens, when I was holding a knife and thought scaring me was the best option. I acted in defense."

"Yeah, and that was the day I realized you could take care of yourself."

"Took you nearly five years to figure that out?"

"Important thing is I figured it out."

"And the bruising." She pressed on, still working, moving to his wrist.

"I know how much you hate me playing the hero, but I can't just walk by and do nothing." The seriousness of his tone was not part of his usual repertoire causing Lily's hands to stop, and for their eyes to meet.

"It's not that I hate you playing the hero. I hate you jumping straight to pulling out your wand and letting the first spell fly. You think violence solves all things. It doesn't."

"I know. But there's some people who you can't reason with, and I know you see the best in everyone…" James' hand found its way to rest comfortably on Lily's waist letting his words hang in the air.

"Don't get yourself into too much trouble, I don't want this to become a standing date." Rubbing in the last bit on his wrist she switched to her wand for the deeper bruises.

"It's nice spending time with you. Reminiscing about the past, you not yelling at me, having you take care of me, I could think of worse ways to spend me night."

"Should I even ask where your mates are?"

"Nope."

"Noted." Once more of her complicated wand movements over his shoulder, and the comfortable warmth spread over him.

"You're good Evans."

"Yes. I. Am. Don't forget it Potter." Pulling away from his touch she packed up her belongings, "You all should let me know if you need my help with these sorts of things." Her comment was light. He became slightly uneasy, running his hand through his hair. Lily took that as her cue to leave.

"Night Potter."

"Night Evans."

And with that, she left in the same whirlwind manner she had entered in.

* * *

**AN: A different format than the first chapter, and the fun times of actually setting up the characters, but I kinda like how it's all fleshing out...hopefully you do as well. **

**Feedback is greatly welcomed!**


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